Mid-range Mirrorless camera roundup (2014)

One of the most significant developments in digital photography has been the introduction of mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. By removing the mirror and optical viewfinder, manufacturers are able to make their cameras smaller, without compromising ergonomics, performance and, in most cases, image quality.

Over the past year we’ve seen more growth in the consumer/mid-level mirrorless category than nearly any other camera class. These cameras are a step up from their entry-level counterparts and generally sell for between $500 and $1000 body only, or between $600 and $1100 with a kit lens. The following cameras are included in this roundup:

Since the range in pricing is so great, we believe there are two groups of people who may be considering cameras in this class. One group wants a more compact, secondary camera in addition to their DSLR, something that still offers ample controls. The other is the photographer for whom this will be their only camera - someone who wants DSLR image quality and control without the additional size or weight.

On the following pages you'll get a quick summary of each camera, and what we liked (or didn't like) about them.

Comments

I own a GF-1, a GX-1, and the GM-5. I like them all very much. I bought the GM-5 because it was small enough to stick in a jacket pocket, or hiking vest pocket. It's well made and everything feels "solid". I usually keep the 20mm pancake lens on the GM-5, making it compact. I own several of the lenses, including the 7-14 mm wide angle. I love the 4/3 system. If you stay way from the German lenses, you can buy the entire system for about the price you would pay for the Sony a 9 body. Same camera as the Sony, or a top of the line Nikon or Canon? No. But these cameras produce excellent pictures that won't bankrupt you. Moreover, you won't wear yourself out dragging around all the gear of a full-frame outfit. If you have to have 20+ megapixels or shoot 20 frames per second, these Lumix cameras aren't for you. But if you want excellent image quality, very good video, comfortable portability, and modest price, then these cameras are indeed worth consideration.

I really like this camera. The pics you see while looking at them on the camera are not nearly as good as when they go to PhotoShp. The only real drawback is the limited number of lenses available and the expense of the adapter to use the lenses for the a mount camera. The ability to program the buttons and the view thru the viewfinder and the LCD allow for quick changes to the set-up and you can program settings for recall, of course. It is just the lack of lenses. (the 50mm is almost as good if not equal to a Z lens though.excellent value.4K pic viewing too.

Sony's lenses had been developing like crazy for the past three years... Olympus, on the other hand, is being weakened by the disadvantage from its M43 sensor. This explains why sony holds its value while Olympus decreased.

Really if you think about it, it's only panasonic and Olympus in the game of M43 sensors, while not being admitted by professional photographer, they're being dragged down. But on the other hand, I do find M43 cameras fun to shoot with. But it limits your ability to produce amazing photos at some point in your career.Hope this helps!

"I purchased a Sony a5000 camera with accessories from 6th Avenue Express. I thought it was unusual that there were certain product elements missing like a plastic film on the glass LCD screen and a sealed label over the lip of the camera box. On testing the camera it became instantly defective because the seller included an aftermarket filter set that upon attachment could not be removed (unscrewed) from the lens. After numerous attempts to coordinate the refund on this camera with the seller, I was forced to file with the Better Business Bureau. The lesson here is not about a poor seller but about taking caution about using aftermarket accessories even if the seller bundled it with their seemingly new (grey) product.

Doesn't it make sense that the company who made the best film makes the best digital cameras in the X-E/X-T series? They even brought out their film engineers to provide color algorithms for their color settings.

No yellow green crossover like one brand, no cyan bias like another top brand and no magenta cast another brand provides.

I held the A6000 in a store and I have to say I was really disappointed, the XE2 feels so much more robust and well made. The kit lens on the Sony is really not good enough compared to the XE2. I know what I would buy for my money.

I know your pain! When looking at the price between the two and how the $448 A6000 destroyed the XE2 on this sites comparator shot, I quickly put the $1100 XE2 back on the counter. Look at the pencil drawing, particularly the line strokes on the back corner in the comparator shot..or is this site rigged?

I also played with an A6000 in a store, for quite a long while, and didn't like it's cheap plastic feel. So I will continue to use my NEX5R, NEX-6 and NEX-7. I own a good copy of the 16-50 kit lens and I must report that it works very well. I blame these differences on production sample variation.

I bought a Sony A6000 five weeks ago to photograph houses for real estate listings and for the past year I've been using a Sony A65. Two weeks ago I started using the 6000 to see how it would work in my job. One thing I thought I would miss is the built in level. Well, I don't, the 6000 is so easy to lineup it's not needed. The 16-50 kit lens works perfectly for this kind of work. The camera automatically adjusts for color and lens distortions making it very easy to line up the vertical lines in the image. The image noise has been greatly reduced and the 6000's color engine has been improved to the point where what I see on the LCD matches what I see in real life. By using the 6000 I've cut my in house photo time by 33% and the post processing time by 33%.

The E-M10 is an "enthusiast camera" is these reviews but surprised the E-PL7 is not here in this section as it is an updated E-M10 without the EVF with bits of the new E-M5.ii and E-M1 thrown in for luck. Does not do everything but excellent little pocket camera.And yes the wobbly sensor will muck up the noise above ISO3200 although the E-PL7 is decent enough (acceptable) to ISO8000 like G5 whereas the later Pannies will run right through to ISO25,600 if needs must with their bolted down sensors.And that is the big difference, the heat sink, O-MD get noise speckling, GH4 gets interesting grainy film look. No biggie, the simple solution is to use more light.

GX7 Review (What We Don't Like) says, "Sensor shift image stabilisation cannot be used during video capture".In fact no camera can use sensor shift stabilisation during video capture because it makes the sensor overheat.Olympus use what they call "Movie-IS" during video capture which is digital not sensor shift. They also point out that long video clips will suffer from noise and gradual increase of red colouration to the image.Other Panasonic cameras firmly bolt the sensor to a heat sink and don't overheat, so no noise or funny colours.Reviewers should know this stuff.

i dont think this is true, IBIS works mechanical for video, I did read that the e-m10 uses a bit digital IS in video mode. I also dont think that the sensor overheats during IBIS, because the sensor itself is not busy with the stabilisation rather then the mechanics around it. the digital IS in moviemode was used with the earlier EP series.

1. As fas as I have been able to find out from the manuals and using the E-PL7 and the E-M5ii: The E-PL7 M-IS is all digital. The E-M5ii M-IS1 is part sensor part digital whilst M-IS2 is all sensor but note bene it does not say all 5 axes and the japanese do have a way of saying something else (that we might prefer to hear) when they do not want to say something: S-IS is all 5 axes, so I seriously do not believe M-IS2 uses the full 5-axis S-IS (no, they've stopped calling it IBIS, they now like "VCM")2. The manual says the sensor overheats and will cut out. I confirm that the sensor on the E-M5ii and the E-PL7 do both overheat and shut the camera down as stated in their manuals. The E-M5ii cannot record more than 4Gb of movie, the image also gets a reddish tinge. The record time goes down to less than 5-6 minutes as the sensor heats up. My statement above was written before the E-M5ii was released, and as far as I'm aware it is now the first to use sensor shift at all during movie

I use a canon 5d mark ii and have series of 6 canon lenses. I'm into wedding and product photography. Just have a feeling if I have to start with a Sony a600 in the mirrorless technology as they are compact and might be the future. I jus wonder how it wud be to handle Sony a6000 with canon ef mount on and a series of lenses like canon 70-200 2.8 , 24-105 and the 85mm 1.8. Considering using them for weddings...

Some of us felt short-changed with this camera because it could have been so much more. Like a true pro-level NEX-7 replacement costing a little bit more. A metal body, with some missing features added in like a level gauge, and improved ratio of in-focus images from continuous fast shooting with tracking.Maybe next year, an A7000 model please, Sony?

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